“If we don’t start well and end well that’s fine, it’s even good fun for the fans”

Jose Mourinho - United boss

“We work every day to try, but the reality is that normally we don’t start matches well,” said Mourinho.

“But if we don’t start well and end well that’s fine, it’s even good fun for the fans, but football is 90 minutes and especially when your opponent is strong, if you give 45 minutes advantage or even 20 or 10, then you have a mountain to climb.

“The good thing is lately, apart from the Juventus match at home, we were strong enough to climb the mountain and to change results in second halves and in the last minutes.

“But because we are speaking about a match when you play against a super team, if you give advantage it’s very difficult to climb the mountain then.”

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United travel to Manchester City on Sunday, where defeat would see them fall 12 points behind the leaders.

But Mourinho played down the significance of tonight’s clash and said United’s Champions League fate will be decided by their final two group games – at home to Young Boys and away to Valencia.

“This is a big match but not a crucial match for us,” said Mourinho. “Independent of the result, our next matches against Young Boys and Valencia are the matches that are going to define if we qualify in second position or to go to the Europa League.

“It doesn’t matter what happens here or in Valencia tomorrow, there are still two more matches to play and we can still qualify.”